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Contents:
It is written that Mary said my soul
doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my savior for
he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden for behold from
henceforth all generations shall called me blessed
Today we express that differently my soul sees the land of freedom my
spirit will leave anxiety behind the empty faces of women will be filled
with life we will become human beings long awaited by the generations
sacrificed before us
It is written that Mary said for he that is mighty hath done to me great
things and holy in his name and his mercy is on them that fear him from
generation to generation
Today we express that differently the great change that is taking
place in us and through us will reach all – or it will not take place
charity will come about when the oppressed can give up their wasted
lives and learn to live themselves
It is written that Mary said he hath shewed strength with his arm he
hath scattered the proud the hath put down the mighty from their seats
and exalted them of low degree
Today we express that differently we shall dispossess our owners and
we shall laugh at those who claim to understand feminine nature the rule
of males over females will end objects will become subjects they will
achieve their
own better right
It is written that Mary said he hath filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he had sent empty away he hath holpen his servant Israel in
remembrance of his mercy
Today we express that differently women will go to the moon and sit
in parliaments their desire for self-determination will be fulfilled the
craving for power will go unheeded their fears will be unnecessary and
exploitation will
come to an end
Dorothee Soelle, “Meditation on Luke 1”
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December 17, 2006
Abundance is seeking the beggars and the poor,
Just as beauty seeks a mirror.
Beggars, then, are the mirrors of God’s bounty,
And they that are with God are united with
Absolute Abundance.
Rumi, Sufi poet (Thanks to Paul Lowe!)
The old woman who was wicked in her honesty asked questions of
her mirror. When she was small she asked, “Why am I afraid
of the dark? Why do I feel I will be devoured?” And her mirror
answered, “Because you have reason to fear. You are
small and you might be devoured. Because you are nothing but a
shadow, a wisp, a seed, and you might be lost in the dark.” And
so she became large. Too large for devouring. From that
tiny seed of a self a mighty form grew and
now it was she who cast shadows. But after a while she came to
the mirror again and asked, “Why am I afraid of my bigness?’ And
the mirror answered, “Because you are big. There is no disputing
who you are. And it is not easy for you to hide.” And so she
began to stop hiding. She announced her presence. She even took
joy in it. But still, when she looked in her mirror she saw
herself and was frightened, and she asked the mirror why.
“Because,” the mirror said, “no one else sees what you
see, no one else can tell you if what you see is true.” So after
that she decided to believe her own eyes. Once when she felt
herself growing older, she said to the mirror, “Why am I afraid
of birthdays?” “Because,” the mirror said, “there is something
you have always wanted to do which you have been afraid of doing
and you know time is running out.” And she ran from the mirror
as quickly as she could because she knew in that moment she was
not afraid and she wanted to seize the time. Over time, she and
her mirror became friends, and the mirror would
weep for her in compassion when her fears were real. Finally,
her reflection asked her, “What do you still fear?” And the old
woman answered, “I still fear death. I still fear change.” And
her mirror agreed. “Yes, they are frightening. Death is a
closed door,” the mirror flourished, “and change is a door
hanging open.” “Yes, but fear is a key,” laughed the
wicked old woman, “and we still have our fears.” She smiled.
Susan Griffin, from Woman and Nature
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Pablo
Neruda, “Self-Portrait”
How to arrange myself to seem bad and remain well? It is like
when one looks at oneself in the mirror (or the portrait) looking for
the beautiful angel (without anyone observing it) to check that
one keeps on being the same always.
Some plant themselves sideways, others will imprint the truth
with that which they would like to be, others will ask themselves:
How am I really?
But the truth is that we all live taking notes on ourselves,
lying in ambush for our selves, declaring only the most visible, and
hiding the irregularity of apprenticeship and of time . . . But let’s
get to the point. For my part I am or believe I am hard of nose, minimal
of eyes,
scarce of hair on the head, growing of abdomen, long-legged, wide-soled,
yellow of face, generous in loves, impossible to calculate, confused
with words, tender of hand, slow in going, untrustable heart; fan of the
stars, tides, tidal waves; admirer of scarabs, walker of sands, slow of
intuition. Chilean to perpetuity, friend of my friends, mute to enemies,
intruder among birds, badly educated in the house, timid in the
salons, audacious in solitude, repentant without object, a horrendous
administrator, navigator of the mouth, stirrer of ink, discreet among
animals, lucky in cloudbursts, investigator in the markets, dark in the
libraries, melancholic in the mountains, untiring in the forests, very
slow in answering, happening years later, vulgar throughout the year,
resplendent with my notebook, monumental of appetite, a tiger for
sleeping, quiet in joy, inspector of the nocturnal heavens, invisible
worker, persistently irregular, valiant by necessity, coward without
sin, sleepy by vocation, friendly with women, active through suffering,
poet by malediction, and ignorant fool.
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Life is filled with waiting;
often a time of waiting overlaps with other periods of expectancy . . .
We learn times of incubation are necessary for the truly significant to
come to fruition . . . We continually experience incompleteness and
await, hope, expect. We wait for some realization, fulfillment,
salvation.
The season of Advent can be
artful waiting . . .
We can be reconciled to life in its severest
aspects if we are confident that the disasters are not meaningless, and
that the valley can be made a place of springs.
Charles Allen Dinsmore
The spirit is breathing.
All those with eyes to see,
women and men with ears for
hearing
detect a coming dawn;
a reason to go on.
They seem small, these signs of
dawn,
perhaps ridiculous.
All those with eyes to see,
women and men with ears for
hearing
uncover in the night
a certain gleam of light;
they see the reason to go on.
-
Dom Helder Camara
God’s dream / and destination / is a day / when
all flesh in all places / is sensitive / receptive / welcoming
to torrents / freshets / cataracts / floods / and
deluges
and inundations / of the Spirit.
-Thomas John Carlisle
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Harvest is a commonplace liturgical
metaphor that can draw us, not only to our own full dinner table, but in two
other directions as well. One is to the triune God, the Bread who is God,
the first fruit who is the resurrected Christ, the fields of mown grain that
is the Spirit in the community. The second direction is toward all those
who suffer from lack of the harvest we tend to take for granted. We do well
to add a second couplet to the traditional table prayer:
Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest,
and let these gifts to us be blest.
Blest be to God, who is our Bread.
May all the world be clothed and fed.
Harvest is communal, the image
extensive, as is our shared life in the church . . . . The contemporary
church often individualizes the temple metaphor, using it to picture the
believer who houses God. Usually, however, the Bible sees the community as
the temple. The body of Christ refers mainly to the assembly of the
faithful. The assembled community is the place where God dwells. The
medieval emphasis on the tabernacle, that is, the storage container of the
consecrated bread, as a location of high holiness has given way to a more
New Testament idea of Christ, the community, and the sharing of the bread as
referents for the metaphor of the temple. The Christian presider leads the
prayers and the rituals of a community within which the Spirit of God
already resides. Here is the good news: Christians need not spend huge
amounts of money on lavish temples to please a distant God. Our temple is
Christ, and in baptism our temple becomes each other, each housing God for
each other.
Gail Ramshaw, Treasures Old and New
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Harvest is a commonplace liturgical metaphor that can draw us, not only to
our own full dinner table, but in two other directions as well. One is to the
triune God, the Bread who is God, the first fruit who is the resurrected Christ,
the fields of mown grain that is the Spirit in the community. The second
direction is toward all those who suffer from lack of the harvest we tend to
take for granted. We do well to add a second couplet to the traditional table
prayer:
Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest,
and let these gifts to us be blest.
Blest be to God, who is our Bread.
May all the world be clothed and fed.
Harvest is communal, the image extensive,
as is our shared life in the church . . . . The contemporary church often
individualizes the temple metaphor, using it to picture the believer who houses
God. Usually, however, the Bible sees the community as the temple. The body of
Christ refers mainly to the assembly of the faithful. The assembled community
is the place where God dwells. The medieval emphasis on the tabernacle, that
is, the storage container of the consecrated bread, as a location of high
holiness has given way to a more New Testament idea of Christ, the community,
and the sharing of the bread as referents for the metaphor of the temple. The
Christian presider leads the prayers and the rituals of a community within which
the Spirit of God already resides. Here is the good news: Christians need not
spend huge amounts of money on lavish temples to please a distant God. Our
temple is Christ, and in baptism our temple becomes each other, each housing God
for each other.
Gail Ramshaw, Treasures Old and New
top of page
November 12, 2006
Human communities value rare metals and gems, and from this treasuring of
scarce products of nature come both personal happiness and international
conflict. In the lectionary, treasure is an image of a countercultural
valuing of the things of God.
Gail Ramshaw, Treasures Old and New
How can I explain the riches and treasures and delights found when the
soul is united to God in prayer? Since in some way we can enjoy heaven on
earth, be brave in begging the Lord to give us his grace in that he show us
the way and strengthen the soul that it may dig until it finds the hidden
treasure. The truth is that the treasure lies within our very selves.
Teresa of Avila
The human fascination with treasure is found at the beginning of the
Bible. In the second story of creation, in the passage laying out
geographical boundaries of the garden of Eden, the land of Havilah is
described as having gold, “and the gold of that land is good.” . . . The
rich man cannot bring himself to sell all he has and another man builds
bigger barns. Alternatively, two poor women are depicted as appropriately
treasuring their small coins, one by searching for a single lost coin and
another by contributing her few coins to the temple treasury . . .
Our treasure is to be not on earth, but in heaven says the gospel. We
are called to find our treasure, as we give alms, in the poor; as we pray,
in the needy; as we fast, with the hungry. . . The grace of God has enriched
the whole church. Yet we have this treasure only in clay jars. Our
treasure is countercultural, not the same as the treasure valued in our
society. God’s mercy and grace are the treasures of the community. . . What
does it mean to treasure God? If God is our treasure, how do we preserve
and honor this treasure? Where (in whom) is the God we treasure?
Gail Ramshaw, Treasures Old and New
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Did someone say that there
would be an end,
And end, Oh, an end, to love
and mourning?
Such voices speak when sleep
and waking blend,
The cold bleak voices of the
early morning
When all the birds are dumb in
dark November –
Remember and forget, forget,
remember
After the false night, warm
true voices, wake!
Voice of the dead that touches
the cold living,
Through the pale sunlight once
more gravely speak.
Tell me again, while the last
leaves are falling:
“Dear child, what has once been
so interwoven
Cannot be raveled, nor the gift
ungiven.”
Now the dead move through all
of us still glowing,
Mother and child, lover and
lover mated,
Are wound and bound together
and enflowing.
What has been plaited cannot
unplaited –
Only the strands grow richer
with each loss
And memory makes kings and
queens of us.
Dark into light, light into
darkness, spin
When all the birds have flown
to some real haven,
We who find shelter in the
warmth within,
Listen, and feel new-cherished,
new-forgiven,
As the lost human voices speak
through us and blend
Our complex love, our mourning
without end.
May
Sarton, “All Souls
By assembling from
the fabric of memory all that had been lost, all she still cherished, she
created a comforter of warmth for others and a work of enduring beauty. The
quiltmaker suggests that each of us might create, in our own way, something new
from sorrow. Mary Jane Moffat
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God’s world is one world. The unity now being thrust upon us by
technological revolution has far outrun our moral and spiritual capacity
to achieve a stable world. The enforced unity of humanity, increasingly
evident on all levels of life, presents the Church as well as all people
with problems that will not wait for answer: injustice, war,
exploitation, privilege, population, international ecological crisis,
proliferation of arsenals of nuclear weapons, development of
transnational business organizations that operate beyond the effective
control of any governmental structure, and the increase of tyranny in
all its forms. This generation must find viable answers to these and
related questions if humanity is to continue on this earth. We commit
ourselves as a Church to the achievement of a world community that is a
fellowship of persons who honestly love one another. We pledge ourselves
to seek the meaning of the gospel in all issues that divide people and
threaten the growth of world community.
* * * * * * * *
Believing that international justice requires the participation of all
peoples, we endorse the United Nations and its related bodies and the
International Court of Justice as the best instruments now in existence to
achieve a world of justice and law. We commend the efforts of all people in
all countries who pursue world peace through law. We endorse international
aid and cooperation on all matters of need and conflict. We urge acceptance
for membership in the United Nations to take a more aggressive role in the
development of international arbitration of disputes and actual conflict
among nations by developing binding third-party arbitration. Bilateral or
multilateral efforts outside the United Nations should work in concert with,
and not contrary to, its purposes. We reaffirm our historic concern for the
world as our parish and seek for all persons and peoples full and equal
membership in a truly world community.
Book of Discipline, “Social Principles”
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We believe the death penalty denies the
power of Christ to redeem, restore and transform all human beings. The
United Methodist Church is deeply concerned about crime throughout the world
and the value of any life taken by a murder or homicide. We believe all
human life is sacred and created by God and therefore, we must see all human
life as significant and valuable. When governments implement the death
penalty (capital punishment), then the life of the convicted person is
devalued and all possibility of change in that persons’ life ends. We
believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that the possibility of
reconciliation with Christ comes through repentance. The gift of
reconciliation is offered to all individuals without exception and gives all
life new dignity and sacredness. For this reason we oppose the death penalty
(capital punishment) and urge its elimination from all criminal codes.
* * * * * * * *
A wide array of sentencing options serves to express community outrage,
incapacitate dangerous offenders, deter crime, and offer opportunities for
rehabilitation. . . . In the love of Christ, who came to save those who are
lost and vulnerable, we urge the creation of a genuinely new system for the
care and restoration of victims, offenders, criminal justice officials, and
the community as a whole. Restorative justice grows out of biblical
authority, which emphasizes a right relationship with God, self, and
community. When such relationships are violated or broken through crime,
opportunities are created to make things right. . . . Restorative justice
seeks to hold the offender accountable to the victimized person, and to the
disrupted community. Through God’s transforming power, restorative justice
seeks to repair the damage, right the wrong, and bring healing to all
involved, including the victim, the offender, the families, and the
community. The Church itself is transformed when it responds to the claims
of discipleship by becoming an agent of healing and systemic change.
– The Book of Discipline, “Social Principles
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SOJOURN
The journey has been awesome
As Sarah and Abraham once knew.
A choice is made along the way;
ah, control of destiny – a self-deceiving nod.
Time-borders blur through an eon, so it seems.
In retrospect comes enlightenment:
The Holy One within the shadows,
a traveling Companion, has marked the course
with cunning signs.
Around mysterious twists and turns
new vistas, drawing breath away, enchant this traveler.
A nearly completed trek
surpasses the beginning –
I could not have supposed back then.
This path now taken has been a blessing,
which no merit nor desire could finesse.
It matters yet
when pondering in the stillness of the night,
that, taking space on this celestial ball,
I may spread some hope and joy to all
who sojourn along the way.
And so I ask the Holy One, “How much longer do I have?”
The answer comes in rainbow tones,
“Enough to make a difference.”
by John Herbert Emerson
© August 8, 2006
“The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work that
you need most to do and that the world most needs to be done…The place
God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s
deep hunger meet.”
-Frederick Buechner
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Sing a new song to God,
Give thanks for the wonders God has performed.
When we are trapped in narrow places,
Yet find strength to move forward
With confidence and trust;
When we could look the other way,
Yet take a chance to reach out to another
With openness and compassion;
When we experience great pain or sorrow,
Yet find light in the midst of darkness;
When we recognize the Wonder of Life,
Ordinary moments become sacred.
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